echo - Program Overview

When the University of North Carolina Program on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health Outcomes began in 2001, it was envisioned that the program would foster mutually beneficial research collaborations, educate a culturally competent workforce, and engage North Carolina communities by bringing together campus resources and expertise.

Mission

The mission of ECHO is to improve the health of North Carolina communities byeliminating racial and ethnic health disparities through multidisciplinary and culturally sensitive research, education and training. ECHO accomplished this mission through:

Educating and training scholars to address disparities in research or practice;
Fostering mutually beneficial community-academic partnerships and research collaborations; and
Developing resources and innovative initiatives

Vision

ECHO envisions a North Carolina, and a world, in which health differences are a result of human variation—not ethnic, racial, cultural or socioeconomic disparities.